


Us Against The World

by readbetweenthelions



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-31
Updated: 2012-08-31
Packaged: 2017-11-13 06:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readbetweenthelions/pseuds/readbetweenthelions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark asks Bruce Banner to stay with him and Pepper for a few months and Bruce finds it harder and harder to leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Us Against The World

“Tony!” Pepper gasps, halfway between a scream and a sob, “Oh my god, I saw you on TV fly that missile into the thing and I was so _worried_ and I saw that you called and then you didn’t pick up and I thought you were _dead –_ ”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Tony says soothingly, wincing as his robots removed the armor. “I’m not dead – in fact, I’m fine. You should come see me. Where are you?”

“I’m on a _plane,_ Tony, I’m on _your_ plane. Do you know how many strings I had to pull to let the Air Force let them fly it anywhere _near_ New York? I’m headed to an airport in the south of Maine, it was the closest I could get! What the hell were you thinking, Tony? _I thought you were dead_!”

“Peppy, I’m not dead. I’m fine. Minor concussion, a few bumps and bruises, a scrape here and there, but I’m _fine_ ,” Tony says. He hisses angrily at his robots, who are being a little too rough trying to pry the deformed armor off his battered body. “Let the record show that I _did_ try to call you before my apparently-imminent doom, so really this whole situation is your fault.”

“ _My fault, Tony?! I didn’t pick up because I was watching you fly into the fucking portal in the first place! YOU ARE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE I HAVE EVER MET, TONY STARK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?_ ” Tony holds his StarkPhone farther from his ear as Pepper screams at him.

“Well, at the moment it’s looking like your dulcet voice is still going to be the last thing I ever hear, since I think you’re planning on killing me the next time I see you. When will that be, by the way?”

“The plane lands in two and a half hours! I’ll be in New York State as soon as I can but it’s looking like sometime tomorrow because Homeland Security will be a nightmare and traffic will be awful and it’s all because of _you and your stupid friends, Tony Stark!_ ”

“That does sound awful. I’ll see if someone from SHIELD can pick you up. Speaking of my stupid friends I offered for Bruce Banner to stay with us for a little while. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Bruce Banner, as in _the Hulk_ , Bruce Banner?! Are you _crazy_ , Tony? I don’t even want to think about how much damage you did to my tower already, let alone the damage a man like that will do to it!”

“Didn’t we agree that it was 12 percent your tower? And don’t _worry_ , Peppy. He’ll be fine. He’s got it under control. You’ll like him, probably. He’s like a much nicer version of me.”

“ _I CAN’T EVEN HANDLE **ONE** OF YOU RIGHT NOW_!” Pepper screams, “ _I HAVE TO GO! I’LL TALK TO YOU LATER_!”

“Pepper I love you!” Tony says hurriedly before she hangs up. “I’ll have someone there to pick you up from the airport!”

“ _UGGHHHH!_ ” And with that, Pepper hangs up the phone.

 _That went better than expected,_ Tony thinks. He puts in a call to Nick Fury (and when he doesn’t pick up, to Agent Hill) to arrange a ride for Pepper to New York City.

* * *

Bruce Banner is nervous.

Bruce Banner is nervous a lot, but usually it’s just about the Other Guy. No, what Bruce is nervous about is much, _so much_ worse than the big green monster lurking in his psyche.

Tony’s invited him to stay with him in Malibu while Stark Tower and the rest of Manhattan were being repaired, and then to come back with him to the Tower to live permanently. It’s an attractive proposition, since Bruce likes Tony a lot and in addition he would have the enormous Stark fortune at his disposal – unlimited research money, a scientist’s wet dream. Bruce had said no at first, but Tony had – true to form – wheedled and begged and convinced Bruce to say yes.

Everything had been fine until Tony had said the magic words: “I’m sure Pepper won’t mind.”

Bruce’s heart sunk. “Who’s Pepper?” he says calmly, his mind boiling internally with panic. Tony hadn’t said there would be anyone else living with them! It was hard enough for Bruce to trust _one_ person, let alone two, and one he’d never even met before. Tony Stark was a genius, he was a brilliant, unstable, sarcastic genius, but Bruce, paradoxically, trusted him. Who was Pepper? Would she hate him for what he was, like everyone else?

“Oh, you know – Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, my smoking-hot girlfriend, the only person who can really keep me in check in any way,” Tony says off-handedly, fiddling with his StarkPhone and touching the wide butterfly bandage covering the sprawling scrape on his forehead. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll love you.”

“You didn’t _tell me_ you were asking me to stay with you and your girlfriend!” Bruce says, horrified.

“It’s not like I asked you to sleep in our bed,” says Tony, slowly but a little wounded. He’s taken aback, but as usual he tries not to show it. Bruce knows because in the years since his accident he’s become very good at sensing the meaning in the words people didn’t say, since that was half of what people said to him anyway. “Though if you want to it’s definitely big enough for three.”

“You know what, I’ll pass,” says Bruce sourly.

“On the bed or on living with me?” Tony retorts. “Because the bed thing was a joke unless you actually do want to take me up on that offer. But I do want you to live with us.”

Bruce quails. “Tony, that will be so _awkward,_ ” Bruce says desperately. “I’ll be like the biggest third wheel in the universe. The _universe, Tony._ We all know given the astronomical probability that there are some very big third wheels out there that this is quite the statement.”

“You said ‘astronomical’ while talking about the universe,” Tony smirks. “Very clever. And you won’t be a third wheel, don’t _worry_ about that. You and I can do our things in the day while Pepper is going to my board meetings and sucking up to my shareholders and if it makes you uncomfortable being around her in the evenings then you don’t have to hang out with us. It’s not like it’s a tiny place. You can escape somewhere in all those rooms. There are so many I’ve never even used some of them, to be honest, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Comforting,” says Bruce soberly. “But this isn’t just about me. What about Pepper? Won’t she be upset?”

“Trust me, I’ve done worse things to Pepper, and she hasn’t left me yet. Besides, Pep’ll like you. She might even like you _more_ than me, and if that happens I’m kicking you out for stealing my girlfriend.”

It takes hours more of Tony’s off-and-on wheedling, but eventually Bruce gives in. He always knew, deep down, that he was going to. He knew it on that motorcycle ride into the city – hell, he might have even known it in the lab on the helicarrier. He knows Tony must be thrilled, however much he tries to hide it behind those designer sunglasses.

* * *

“Pepper, Bruce. Bruce, Pepper.”

Pepper Potts shakes Bruce’s hand with a smile in the penthouse atop Stark Tower. Bruce tries not to look at the broken slabs of marble where the Other Guy smashed Loki into the ground. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Banner,” Pepper says, “Tony has told me wonderful things about your work.” Bruce tries to smile back but even though he honestly is happy about meeting Pepper, Bruce doesn’t usually have a lot to smile about and his facial muscles are out of practice.

“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” says Bruce, softly. Bruce says most things softly – he does it to avoid conflict. He keeps others happy so they they’ll keep him happy – well, at least, _less angry._ “Honestly, I’m in awe. I don’t know how you manage to keep him on such a short leash.”

“Years of practice,” Pepper laughs. Tony wraps an arm around her waist but leaves one hand on Bruce’s shoulder, grinning at the two of them. “Tony, why don’t you go get Bruce something to drink?”

“Excuse me, Miss Potts,” Tony says, frowning, “But isn’t that usually _your_ job?”

“Not now that I’m the CEO of your company,” says Pepper reasonably, twisting herself out of his grasp and giving him a little shove towards the bar. “ _You_ are being a bad host. Get going. I’d like to talk to Bruce, if you don’t mind.”

Tony scowls but goes anyway. It is truly amazing – Bruce has never seen anything like it. Not even Nick Fury, Director of one of the most powerful government organizations on the planet, could give Tony orders and have him actually follow them. Pepper motions to the huge, gracefully-curving couches – meaning for them to sit down.

“So, Bruce,” Pepper says slowly, “As I said, Tony’s told me a lot about you.”

 _Did he tell you I’m a monster?_ Bruce thinks. _Did he tell you I destroy everything my big green hands touch?_ “Did he?” Bruce says, trying to sound surprised, his voice a little higher than he meant it to be. _Do you know what could happen if –_

“Tony says you’re one of the most brilliant men he’s ever met,” Pepper continues, “Which is saying a lot coming from Tony Stark. Usually his own ego covers up the accomplishments of others and he’s listening to me right now when he should be busy pouring drinks.”

There is a small choking noise from the bar behind Bruce that tells him Pepper had been right on that count.

“Remind me of your field again?” Pepper asks. “Was it physics?”

“Uh, nuclear physics, actually,” Bruce says. He looks around the penthouse – extravagant, though a little tattered, aftermath of the battle. Bruce is a little overwhelmed, to say the least. He’d spent the last year and a half in a shanty town on the outskirts of Kolkata, surrounded by the sick and dying and suffering. He hadn’t exactly had things like mahogany tables and silk throw pillows and crystal scotch glasses even _before_ the accident, before he’d gone into hiding, before he’d… Bruce snapped himself out of his musings. “But I’ve dabbled a little in medicine, microbiology, engineering… but um, enough about me?”

“Hey, drinks!” announces Tony loudly as he strides swiftly up to Bruce and Pepper where they sit on the couches, balancing three glasses of something in his hands. Pepper takes her glass with a winning, freckly smile and Bruce feels a sensation that feels strangely like a shifting of alliances.

Bruce takes a sip of his drink and nearly gags, but he doesn’t spit it out. Tony would never let him live it down if he spat it out. “God, Tony, what is that?” he chokes out after swallowing the concoction.

“Oh, what, _that?_ ” says Tony, feigning surprise. “Vodka, mostly. Can’t blame a man for trying.” Bruce carefully places the drink on the coffee table and cautiously ignores it.

“I was just telling Doctor Banner that I’ve heard all about him from you, Tony,” Pepper says, pointedly not drinking from her glass even as Tony beside her downs half of his in one gulp.

“Oh, right,” Tony sniffs. “By the way, Banner, I did tell her about the Big Angry, so you can stop looking like you’re a polar bear trapped on a melting ice floe. Pepper doesn’t bite. Well, she _does_ , but – oww!”

Pepper elbows Tony in the ribs and smiles at Bruce. “ _Tony,_ ” she says under her breath, warning him through clenched teeth.

“You’re right, I’m a bad host,” Tony says, rubbing a hand distractedly over his wounded side. “Anyway, how are you feeling, Bruce? Looks like a shower helped a lot.”

“I heal quickly anyways,” Bruce says, desperately fighting the urge to chew his nails – a horrible nervous habit, but one he’s never been able to break despite myriad tries using a variety of methods. “Part of the, uh, condition.”

Pepper opens her mouth, as if she were going to ask something – ‘what condition?’ maybe, or ‘how did it happen?’ People were always asking those questions, and Bruce was a little sick of answering them. It seems to Bruce that the silence stretches a little bit – but it could just be in his head.

“You aren’t drinking your drink,” Tony says, catching sight of the forgotten glass on the table in front of Bruce. “I’m hurt.”

“I don’t, uh,” Bruce stammers, “I don’t drink, so…”

“I’m just teasing, Bruce, please,” Tony says, leaning forward and snatching Bruce’s glass from the table. “Pepper doesn’t even drink hers, no matter how lovingly I prepare it.”

“It tastes like battery acid,” Pepper snaps. “How am I supposed to like it if it tastes like battery acid?”

“Well, _I_ like it.”

“That’s because you _run_ on batteries, Tony.”

“I do _not_ run on batteries, the arc reactor is not a _battery,_ it’s – ”

“I know, Tony, and no matter how many times you explain it I will never understand. But that’s your thing, so I’ll leave you to it.”

“She doesn’t appreciate me, Bruce,” Tony sniffs. “She says she loves me, but all I ever get from her is hurtful words.”

“Try years of faithful service.”

“ _Years of hurtful words,_ Peppy.”

Pepper and Tony smile at each other. Bruce watches them, and thinks of Betty. Betty, who was everything he needed. He still misses her sometimes, but she was long gone. The heartbreak was no more than the pain of a scab now, an itch that made him think of her, but not with that same longing he once had.

“Sorry the penthouse isn’t exactly… orderly,” Pepper apologizes, her eyes straying behind Bruce to look at the spots where the Other Guy had slammed Loki into the floor. Bruce fights to keep blood from rising to his cheeks. “Oh, no, don’t worry,” Pepper adds hastily, “I don’t blame you. We just haven’t had anyone in here to fix it yet. It’s only been half a day.”

“Yeah, and we’re going to get it fixed asap,” Tony says. He says it ‘a-sap,’ not ‘ay-ess-ay-pee.’ Bruce sniffs and glances back at the small piles of rubble as Tony continues, “I need a break from this city.”

“You’ve only just got here,” Pepper protests.

“Pardon me, who was it that spent the afternoon fighting off an alien attack and flying a nuclear missile into space?” Tony says with a frown. “Bruce helped, too, I guess. My point is that I kinda want to not be here anymore.”

“Drama,” Pepper says, aside to Bruce. “It’s always drama with him.”

“And it’s always her talking about me as if I’m not here,” Tony retorts. It’s not mean – it’s never mean with them. It is the playful taunts and gestures of two people who are very much in love. Bruce feels more like a third wheel than ever before.

“Don’t do that,” Tony says suddenly.

Jerked out of his thoughts, it’s all Bruce can do not to choke on his own sharp intake of breath. “Ahm, do what?” he says.

“Don’t look so,” Tony squints searchingly at him, “far away. All of that alien business is over now. Or at least it will be, after we get rid of Count Dracula in the morning.”

Bruce’s nose twitches, the only outward sign of his amusement. He’s never going to be able to get over the nicknames. Bruce has no idea where he comes up with all of them. He must spend time just brainstorming them, remembering them for when he mentions someone in conversation.

“We should get something to eat,” Pepper laughs. “Thai? Does Thai sound good?”

“If you can find a place that hasn’t been destroyed by aliens,” Bruce quips.

“And a place that delivers,” Tony adds. They all grin.

Surprisingly, Bruce doesn’t find himself wishing he was back in his room, reading a book or something. He feels alright, for the first time in a long time.

* * *

It’s not until Bruce tries to read the small, water-damaged, secondhand paperback that he brought with him for amusement on the plane that he realizes something is missing. His glasses.

He _needs_ them.

Tony and Pepper are undoubtedly still awake, in the penthouse just one floor up. He can just go up and get them…

Bruce examines himself in the shiny marble floor of Tony’s elevator. Bruce is in pajamas – he gets sick of wearing his cheap, scratchy tweed suits and longs for threadbare sweatpants and old t-shirts with holes in them. Pajamas, for Bruce, mean he can let his guard down. When he’s in pajamas, he doesn’t have to play Doctor Banner all the time – he can just be _Bruce._

The elevator slides into position at the penthouse. Bruce hears yelling. Swiftly, he presses and holds the close door button, desperately trying not to be noticed.

“Pepper!” Tony is saying loudly, trying to talk over Pepper’s angry chatter, “Hey now! If this is about Bruce – ”

Bruce’s heart sinks. _Is_ it about him?

“This isn’t about _Bruce,_ Tony, it’s about _you!_ ” Pepper retorts. “You do this _all the time,_ Tony! That’s why I’m angry! It’s not just Bruce, it’s the _cars_ and the _women_ and the _nine-hole golf course_ when you don’t even _like golf!_ It’s the suit and the running off all over the place trying to save the world!”

“Hey, it’s not the women anymore, I’m not that guy anymore, Pepper, come on!”

“I’m _terrified, Tony!_ I’m so scared that you’re never going to come back and I thought you were dead and – well – since that space-portal thing didn’t kill you, _I just might!_ ”

Bruce, embarrassed, has heard enough. Just as he goes to press the button to take him back down to his room, so he can give up on reading his book for tonight and just get his glasses in the morning, JARVIS says, “Sir, Doctor Bruce Banner is waiting in the elevator.”

There is dead silence in the room for a heartbeat or two – Bruce spares only a moment to wish evil, horrible, painful things on the artificial butler, to wish he could invent a system that would allow artificial intelligences to feel pain – and Bruce hears footsteps, headed towards the door. _Too late to run now, Banner,_ Bruce thinks, and steels himself for the oncoming encounter.

“Bruce!” Tony blusters as the doors of the elevator slide open. Bruce catches sight of Pepper’s red hair as she disappears into the bedroom. “What’s up, big guy?”

“I uh,” Bruce stammers, “I left my glasses on the table…”

In seconds, Tony has crossed the room, snatched Bruce’s glasses – his spare pair, considering he destroyed the first when the other guy came out on the Helicarrier – and crossed back. He hands them to Bruce with a little grimace.

“Did you hear any of that?” Tony asks – referring to his fight with Pepper, unquestionably.

Bruce is tempted to lie, to say _no, I didn’t hear anything, hear any of what?_ , but he doesn’t. “I heard… some of it, yeah,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. He doesn’t look at Tony, but he knows Tony’s watching him.

“Bruce…” Tony says. He looks torn – between staying, telling Bruce it’s not his fault, or going, finding Pepper and telling her he’s sorry. “It’s – it’s not about you, okay? It’s about me. Everything will be fine with Pepper. Everything’s always fine with Pepper. She’s just stressed with the whole, my-imminent-death thing. She’ll probably be alright in the morning. Alright?”

Bruce swallows and fiddles with the temples of his glasses, folding and unfolding them over and over. “Are you… are you _sure_ you still want me to stay with you?” he says. “I don’t have to. I could – ”

“You could what, go back to Kolkata?” Tony says, perhaps a little more harshly than he meant to, because his tone becomes suddenly softer. “Bruce, don’t run away from this. I want you to stay with me. Pepper wants you to stay. She’s mad at me, not you. Don’t _worry._ ”

Bruce only nods. He thinks about doing it – running away, that is. But he can’t. He can’t do it without clearance from SHIELD, and he probably wouldn’t get it in time to stop Tony from whisking him away to some exotic location or other. _It’s just for now, Bruce,_ he thinks. _Only a little while._

“Goodnight, Tony,” Bruce says, and Tony lets the elevator doors close on Bruce, leaving him feeling guilty and out of place.

* * *

The next morning, Bruce is awoken promptly at eight-thirty by the posh, mechanical voice of JARVIS. “Sir, you are needed for a meeting with SHIELD at nine-thirty.”

“Why,” Bruce moans, burying his face in his pillow to shut out the world. However, Bruce remembers why before JARVIS even starts explaining. They have to see Loki off, back to Asgard where he will await his punishment. It’s the last piece of SHIELD business they _have_ to do – though of course, Natasha and Clint will stay with their organization. Tony is going to rebuild, without a doubt – he and Pepper had only just gotten the Tower up and running before Loki arrived and everything fell apart. Who knows what Captain Rogers will do, but as for Bruce, he’s going to head back where he’s needed. He decides to think of a way to tell Tony his plans sometime later.

Bruce showers quickly and dresses in the only clothes he has, since he destroyed the rest when he lost control on the helicarrier. He looks decent, which is all he ever really hopes for. He meets Tony in the lobby of the tower at nine-fifteen precisely.

“Are you kidding me with that?” Tony says, looking at Bruce over the tops of his designer sunglasses as Bruce strides up to him. Tony is dressed in a pale grey suit and a purple shirt and tie – expensive-looking, like everything else he owns.

“What?” Bruce asks, looking down at himself. He doesn’t see a problem. Well, except for the fact that his tattered, well-used tweed looks horrible next to Tony’s custom-tailored masterpiece. Bruce _is_ wearing a suit, at least!

“With _that,_ ” Tony says, waving a dismissive hand at Bruce’s outfit. “You’re a hero, you can’t go out there wearing _that_ and expect to make a good impression. Don’t you have anything else?”

“Well, not exactly, no,” Bruce says sheepishly. “I didn’t exactly expect to be here for very long. Or to be in front of the press. So…”

Tony considers him for a moment. “Well, you can’t wear that. Come on, you can borrow something of mine.” Tony ignores Bruce’s protests and guides him with a firm hand on Bruce’s shoulder back to the elevator.

A short while later, they’re in the elevator again, zipping back down to the lobby of Stark Tower, with Bruce dressed in Tony’s clothes – an expensive yellow shirt and a nice pair of pants, Bruce having refused the jacket (which wouldn’t fit him) and tie (he hates ties – they make him feel trapped, which is never a good thing.) They’re running late, and Fury is going to chew them out for it, but Tony doesn’t seem to mind.

Bruce thinks about Pepper – she had been there, in the penthouse, sitting in a fluffy white bathrobe at the small table. She’d smiled at him, all freckles and dimples, but something in her looked strained. Bruce knew the look only too well. So he hadn’t really said much to her, just disappeared into Tony’s room while Tony sifted through his wardrobe, brandishing first one shirt then another, and handing Bruce three pairs of pants at once.

* * *

It’s a gorgeous day – the early-summer kind of hot that warms the cold of the still-lingering winter out of your bones, but the kind that’s still cool enough that you’re not sweating.

Yesterday seems worlds away, even though all of Tony’s muscles hurt and he has scrapes everywhere and his body feels basically like one big, giant, walking bruise. Tony watches the back of Loki’s head and the firm hand Thor has on Loki’s shoulder and sniffs. You saw a lot of things most people didn’t when you were a superhero, but Tony had never expected to see the depths of space, and it all seemed almost unreal – though the destruction to the two latest models of the Iron Man suit revealed otherwise.

Tony looks at Bruce over the rims of his designer sunglasses. In the sunlight the yellow shirt Tony lent him has him glowing like the sun itself. It was too bad none of Tony’s jackets fit him – he really does look nice in something that isn’t wrinkled and long out of style. They gather around the two Asgardians.

Tony nods in Loki’s direction. “I really do like him better with that muzzle on his mouth,” Tony remarks to Natasha, who bites the inside of her lip to hide a smile.

“Thank you, friends,” says Thor. “It has been an honor to fight with you. I hope to return someday soon, perhaps when my brother has properly answered for his actions.”

Natasha whispers something to Clint. Selvig watches Bruce as Bruce places the cube in the device. Tony looks at Steve and Steve glares at Loki. Thor nods to each of his teammates, and with a final glance at his brother, turns the handle on the tube and the two of them dissolve in wisps of blue radiation.

“Hasta la vista, baby,” Tony says as the last of the blue energy of the Tesseract fades away. His comment gets a short, sharp chuckle from Bruce and a smirk from Clint, but the others don’t react.

“Well,” Selvig says, turning to face what’s left of the team. “I guess that’s that.”

“So it is,” says Steve.

Time for goodbyes, even though they’ve only just come together. They saved the world together, and it’s inspired a sort of camaraderie that even Tony is having a hard time letting go of.

Tony shakes Steve’s hand. “Nice working with you, Cap.”

“Thank you, Mister Stark,” Steve replies. “You weren’t completely awful yourself.”

“I think you can call me Tony,” Tony says. “I think we’re there.”

Steve smiles, fleetingly, and shrugs his shoulders.

Natasha hands a beat-up duffel bag to Bruce.

“There you are, Doctor,” she says.

“Thanks, Natasha,” Bruce replies. “And… it’s Bruce, please.”

Natasha nods. “Keep in touch, Bruce,” she says, then turns and slips into passenger seat of the car SHIELD provided for her and Clint.

“I will,” Bruce says, though she can’t hear him now. He gives a wave to Steve on his motorcycle, and climbs into the passenger seat of Tony’s car with his bag. Steve gives Bruce and Tony a final salute and speeds off with a rev of his engine.

Clint gives a collected nod to Bruce and Tony as they sit in Tony’s convertible. Clint climbs into the driver’s seat of the SHIELD vehicle, and he and Natasha are off without another word.

“Just you and me, huh?” Tony says, putting the expensive sports car into gear.

“I guess so,” Bruce says, grinning and squinting in the sun. Tony adjusts his sunglasses and revs the engine, and the two of them speed away.

“What d’you think they’re gonna do to Tall, Dark, and Creepy once he’s back on Asgard?” Tony hollers over the wind that whips around them as they speed back to the tower.

“They probably have their own customs for dealing with something like this,” Bruce yells back, shrugging his shoulders. “If anyone could punish a god, it would be other gods.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” Tony says. He presses his foot down a little farther on the gas pedal and grins into the whipping winds. Half the city might be destroyed and his own tower might need weeks or months of repairs, but nothing stops Tony Stark for long.

* * *

Pepper can’t find Tony.

She’s used to him waking up earlier than her, going off and doing something and leaving her in bed. Usually, he’s in his workshop – but if he’s in there, he has his music blaring. Pepper has listened at every one of the seven floors of laboratories, and not a peep. And Pepper is worried.

Pepper does something then that she never does. Tony Stark rarely answers his phone – if Tony wants to talk to you, he’ll call you – so Pepper doesn’t bother anymore, especially since she usually knows where to find him. But now, Pepper pulls out her phone, and she calls him.

It goes to voicemail once, and she hangs up without leaving a message. Just when she’s about to give up on the second try, though –

“Hey.” Tony’s voice, distorted through the phone.

“Oh, god, Tony, I couldn’t find you,” Pepper breathes, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tony says, a little confused but also, in his typical way, not paying her his full attention. “What’s going on?”

“I just couldn’t find you,” Pepper says. “Where are you?”

“Floor 32,” Tony says. It’s an R&D floor – but Pepper thought she checked all those?

“Your music isn’t on,” Pepper says reproachfully.

Tony sniffs. “Doctor Banner works better when there’s quiet.”

Aha.

“I’ve asked you to turn the music down a thousand times, and one scientist comes along and suddenly you’re working without it entirely,” Pepper laughs.

“I am an enigma, I know.”

“I’ll be there in a sec.”

Pepper taps out her access code on the touchscreen keypad by the door of the lab on floor 32. Through the glass walls, she can see the two of them. Tony, with his back to her, stretching one side of his neck as he stands up from some activity on the floor; and Bruce, 30 feet from Tony, hunched over a lab bench, fluorescent light glinting off his glasses. It is marvelously, immaculately quiet.

It’s Bruce who notices her first. His head tips up away from his work and he watches her walk up behind Tony. Tony probably hasn’t heard her – Pepper is suddenly acutely aware that she’s barefoot and wearing her pajamas. In her defense, she hadn’t reckoned on Bruce being here.

Pepper taps Tony on the shoulder. His shoulders twitch with surprise and he spins around. “Peppy, hey,” he says. He bends his neck a little and kisses her quickly. “Good morning, sleepyhead, it’s ten o’clock. What happened to Eight-O’Clock-On-The-Dot Pepper?”

It’s true – Pepper can’t remember the last time she slept past eight. She’s been getting up early and doing work for Tony for so long that she can’t remember what it feels like to not be awake for at least four hours before lunch. “It’s been a stressful couple of days, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Pepper says, untangling herself from him. “Good morning, Bruce,” she adds, glancing around Tony at him.

“Morning,” he mumbles, and bends over whatever it is he’s tinkering on once more.

“The workmen are coming later today to prep the deck for renovations,” Pepper informs Tony. “I’m warning you now so you don’t get all touchy about it later.”

“As long as they don’t use my elevator.”

“They _have_ to use the elevator, Tony, it’s the only way up to that level.” Tony looks as if he’s about to argue, but Pepper puts a hand over his open mouth and stops him. “What are you two working on, anyway?”

“Bruce is helping me repair the suit,” Tony says. “The Mark 7. The Mark 6 is obsolete, and it’s destroyed anyway. You should’ve seen the 7 in action, worked just the way it was supposed to, locked on just in time – ”

“That’s great, Tony,” Pepper says. “I’m going to make breakfast. Then I’m going to call Nick Fury and get your follow-up. Then I’m going to get those workmen in here to prep for renovations.” She straightens a stack of papers on one of Tony’s workbenches - she can’t help herself. “Do you want breakfast, Bruce?” she adds.

He looks surprised at being addressed. Honestly, it seems to Pepper that sometimes he’s so lost in his own world that he forgets people can still see him. “I’m alright, thanks.”

“You sure? I make a great omelet,” Pepper clucks.

“It’s true, she makes _great _omelets,” Tony breaks in.__

__Bruce looks hesitant. He glances down at whatever he’s working on, even though Pepper is decently sure he could do it with his eyes closed, if he wanted. “I…”_ _

__“Don’t worry about it, Bruce,” Pepper says. “It’s nothing, honestly.”_ _

__“If you’re sure it’s not any trouble,” Bruce says sheepishly. “I don’t want you to go out of your way, hopefully I won’t be living on your hospitality too long…”_ _

__Pepper laughs. “Bruce, anyone who can get Tony to turn off his music is welcome to stay as long as he likes.”_ _

__Pepper leaves the two of them in the lab. She’s glad Bruce is here. He takes Tony’s mind off things, and that takes pressure off of Pepper, and anything does that is a godsend._ _

__* * *_ _

__Bruce fiddles with a bit of loose skin on his left thumb as he rides the elevator up to Tony’s penthouse. He’d been packing a few things when Tony’s voice from the intercom had broken the silence Bruce had built._ _

__“Come up to the penthouse, will you Banner?” he said briskly. “I give you permission. Usually I don’t like people using my elevator, but I like you, so get up here quick.”_ _

__“Okay,” Bruce said softly, and he heard the intercom click off. Bruce folded the shirt he was holding patiently, rolled up his right sleeve where it had come unrolled, fixed his collar, and walked slowly to Tony’s elevator._ _

__Bruce is panicking a little bit as he nears the penthouse floor. He hadn’t told Tony yet that he was planning to leave, to go back to Kolkata or maybe go someplace new, in South America or Asia somewhere. He knew Tony wouldn’t be pleased; he’d said as much. But Bruce wouldn’t be able to hide it from Tony for very long – he doesn’t know how he does it, but Tony Stark sees right through all the layers Bruce usually puts between himself and other people._ _

__When the doors of the elevator slide open, Bruce sees Tony and Pepper standing at a makeshift desk in the center of the anteroom, Tony’s arm wrapped around Pepper’s waist as she fiddles with interactive holographic floor plans. Tony waves all the plans away with a few flicks of his wrist, and Pepper laughs, and they kiss. Bruce considers just stepping back into the elevator and pretending nothing happened._ _

__Pepper catches sight of him. “Bruce!” she calls, letting go of Tony and coming to meet him. “I haven’t seen you in a day or two. How’ve you been?”_ _

__“I’ve been, uh, alright I guess,” Bruce says. He glances at the plastic covering everything, the ladders and cans of paint that are scattered around the normally pristine penthouse. Tony must be losing his mind with all this stuff around. “It’s very nice of you both to let me stay here.”_ _

__“Are you kidding me with that?” Tony calls aloud, and it takes Bruce a moment to realize he’s talking to JARVIS._ _

__“Oh, it’s never any trouble,” Pepper says. “I was worried that room was going to be too small. It was thrown together a little last minute…”_ _

__“I lived for a year and a half in a shack on the outskirts of Kolkata,” Bruce shrugs. “If it’s got running water and no mosquitos, it’s good enough for me.”_ _

__“Really, this room’s nothing compared to the one you’ll have at the mansion,” Pepper says._ _

__“I – ” Bruce starts, then blinks in surprise. “What? What room? What mansion?”_ _

__“The mansion,” Tony says, turning to face them. “In Malibu? Did I forget to tell you? We’re leaving later today. I can’t stand being around construction noise, and they’re going to be rebuilding the whole city soon.”_ _

__“But – ”_ _

__“You should probably start packing, come to think of it,” Tony says. “JARVIS, make me some coffee,” he adds, to the AI._ _

__“I _was_ packing,” Bruce blurts. He immediately regrets this._ _

__“You were?” Tony asks._ _

__Pepper looks concerned. “Where were you going?” she asks, a little fear in her voice._ _

__“I was – I don’t – ” Bruce stammers. “Kolkata, probably,” he says after a moment, resignation flooding him. “Maybe South America, Asia, I don’t know. Somewhere.”_ _

__“That’s ridiculous,” Tony says breezily. “I asked you to stay with us. Why would you go run off to some third-world hellhole?”_ _

__There is silence for a moment while it sinks in._ _

__“Oh, _shut up,_ ” Tony says suddenly, confident but perhaps a little wounded, “You’re kidding me with that whole, ‘going back to Kolkata’ thing, right? As if we didn’t have enough room for you in the _mansion._ ”_ _

__“I was helping people in Kolkata, Tony,” Bruce says quietly._ _

__“You can be helping people from my luxurious Malibu beach house,” Tony pouts. “Give it a chance. Just a month or two in Malibu for the summer. That’s good, right? Peppy, tell him I’m right.”_ _

__“It would mean a lot to us, Bruce,” Pepper says. Pepper is watching him with a sad frown, and he wonders why these two people care so much. He’s dangerous, he knows it, and he doesn’t want them to get hurt. He looks around him at the destruction the Hulk wreaked on their penthouse, their home that they’d built together, and his heart sinks a little._ _

__“I just,” Bruce says, shrinking a little bit under the weight of his guilt, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”_ _

__Tony scowls. “You’re not going to hurt us, Bruce,” he says, buoyant but barely concealing a current of something else – fear? Annoyance? Doubt? “You’ve been fine for a year and a half.”_ _

__“Except not _really,_ ” Bruce points out. “In case you’re forgetting what happened on the helicarrier? And what the Other Guy did to your penthouse?”_ _

__“I don’t blame you for either of those things. They were flukes. And I trust you.”_ _

__“ _We_ trust you,” Pepper corrects. She looks as if she’s going to hug him, and for a fleeting second Bruce _wants_ her to – but she doesn’t. “Give yourself a little vacation. Stay with us.”_ _

__“I…” Bruce hesitates. He notes the worry in Pepper’s face – somehow, it’s worry that he’ll leave, not the typical worry that he’ll stay. Tony is watching him with a face that is at once a scowl and a puppy-dog beg. “Well, it’s better than the city, I guess,” Bruce concedes finally. He knows that, eventually, he will give in anyway; caving under the sheer force of Tony’s will, and let Tony buy him new clothes and a new StarkPhone and a one-way ticket to Malibu, California. He cannot escape. Besides, Bruce thinks, he’d miss that – Tony’s shining brown eyes begging him for something, and Pepper’s freckles moving with her smile._ _

__“Good,” Tony says. “We’re leaving at 7:30 this evening. Now come over here and help me figure this out – I can’t decide whether or not to…”_ _

__Bruce stops listening, figuring he’ll be able to pick it back up again in a moment. He soaks in what just happened and decides that maybe, possibly, this wouldn’t be so bad. Pepper puts a hand on Bruce’s arm and Tony throws a careless arm around Bruce’s shoulders, and he decides to let go, just this once._ _

__* * *_ _

__“You’re good with flying, right?”_ _

__The hum of the plane’s engine almost drowns Tony’s words out as they cross the tarmac. It’s a private jet, of course – Bruce couldn’t really expect anything less from Tony._ _

__“It’s not the flying I usually worry about,” Bruce says. “It’s the people.”_ _

__“Well, I guarantee you,” Tony says as he puts a foot on the steps up to the plane, “It’s just you, me, Pepper, and the pilot. And a flight attendant or two. No crying children, no fat guys taking up your elbow room, no one falling asleep on your shoulder – unless I get really tired.”_ _

__“Reassuring,” Bruce says dryly._ _

__“I’ll call you back,” Pepper hollers into her cell phone, still down on the tarmac. “I’m getting on the jet now, I’ll call you when we’re in the air.” She hangs up and follows Bruce and Tony, her heels clicking on the asphalt._ _

__The inside of the plane is unlike anything Bruce has ever seen – it’s luxurious and spacious and sparkling clean. Champagne sits on ice and the television is the largest Bruce has seen outside of a movie theater._ _

__“If I’d have known I could be travelling like this I’d have befriended a billionaire years ago,” Bruce says, glancing around at the splendor._ _

__Tony grins. “See what you’d have missed if you’d gone back to Kolkata?” he teases. “Who was on the phone?” he adds, to Pepper._ _

__“It was your directors,” Pepper sighs, rummaging through her bag._ _

__“Technically,” Tony muses, “They’re pretty much _your_ directors. You _are_ CEO.”_ _

__Pepper purses her lips, but only for a fleeting second. “Well, the company is called Stark Industries, not Potts Industries, so excuse me if I refer to them as your directors now and then. They’re so frustrating. They’re the biggest bunch of stuffed-shirt idiots _anywhere._ ”_ _

__“Why do you think I pawned them off on you?”_ _

__“Well, _ha ha,_ ” Pepper says. She gives Tony a light shove on the arm, then brushes past him to have a word with the pilot._ _

__“Make yourself comfortable, Banner,” Tony says, dropping himself into one of the chairs, “We’ve got six hours until California.”_ _

__Bruce hopes he doesn’t mess all this up, like everything else._ _

__* * *_ _

__“Home sweet home,” says Tony, tapping out an eight-digit pin on the keypad next to the enormous front doors. They’d been driving for an hour along Highway One, catching glimpses of the dark ocean in the starry night. Now they’ve arrived, at the front doors of Tony Stark’s sprawling mansion, after driving an extra fifteen minutes through the grounds just to reach these doors. The doors swing inwards, on hydraulics probably, and reveal the elegant interior that somehow manages to outstrip even the house’s outer splendor._ _

__“Welcome home, sir,” calls the familiar voice of JARVIS. Lights come on gradually all over the house. Readouts light up blue and lights brighten gradually to comfortable settings. “I hope your flight was comfortable.”_ _

__“Comfortable as it ever is, JARVIS,” Tony sniffs. “What is there to eat in this house?”_ _

__“Miss Potts made sure to order the usual to be stocked,” JARVIS drawls. “She is truly a gift, sir. I don’t know what you would do without us.”_ _

__“Starve, probably,” Tony mutters. “Tour?” he adds to Bruce._ _

__“Ah,” Bruce says, still trying to take in the foyer, “I guess so.”_ _

__Tony grins, perhaps a little evilly, and guides Bruce around the house with a hand on Bruce’s shoulder._ _

__Tony likes to show off his possessions, but he often forgets that people don’t know all the details of them like he does. He’ll say things like, “This is my favorite room in the house, fantastic, just fantastic…” or “That thing over there is the most useful thing I’ve ever invented – well, besides maybe JARVIS or the suit, but…” and then he moves on to something else without properly explaining it. Pepper has to break in and fill in the details, when she can get Tony to hold still long enough for her to give Bruce a better tour._ _

__“How about you show Bruce the workshop in the morning?” Pepper says after half an hour. “I’m exhausted. Bruce, are you exhausted? Tony, we’re exhausted.” They’d been busy and travelling all day – first planning the renovations to the tower, then flying and driving and now the tour._ _

__“He’ll want to see this now, though,” Tony says, indignantly. He’d been saving the best for last – they couldn’t very well give up now!_ _

__Bruce and Pepper glance at each other. Tony doesn’t fail to notice._ _

__“That’s not fair, ganging up on me,” Tony pouts. “I didn’t invite Bruce to stay with us so that you two could gang up on me. It’s bad enough when one of you does it.”_ _

__“Just, show Bruce the lab and we can have coffee,” Pepper says, soothingly._ _

__Tony struts like a peacock as he leads them down the stairs to the lab._ _

__It’s impressive, and Tony knows it. With his cars everywhere, the touchscreens and holograms he designed himself, his myriad robots and workspaces and the best equipment money can buy – it’s not quite the R &D playground Tony promised Bruce in the Wishbone, but it’s certainly not nothing. Bruce isn’t showing it, but if Tony were in his position, he’d be shaking with excitement. Every scientist and engineer would kill to have what Tony has, and he’s well aware of it._ _

__“What do you think?” Tony asks, trying hard not to sound like a kid watching a parent unwrap a homemade Christmas present._ _

__“It’s….” Bruce begins. “It’s…. _fantastic._ ”_ _

__It’s all Tony can do not to throw a fist in the air in triumph. _I impressed Doctor Robert Bruce Banner!_ he wants to yell. _I am a god among men! I mean, I already knew that, but…__ _

__“You can play with the toys in the morning, boys,” Pepper clucks. “I’m starving and we haven’t even shown Bruce his room yet.”_ _

__“Right,” Tony says, glancing proudly at his workshop once again. He can tell Bruce doesn’t want to leave either – but Pepper is, typically, right._ _

__They show Bruce upstairs and down the hall to his room. Past the kitchen and Pepper’s study and the gym and all those spare bedrooms to the biggest guest room of all. The bed is huge – even the Hulk would fit comfortably on it – and there are dozens of dressers and two walk-in closets that Tony is itching to fill with clothes for Bruce, well-tailored and expensive clothes and silk pajamas and whatever Bruce wants, really. There’s a wall of windows that looks over the cliff and out to the ocean, where it pounds, noiselessly on account of the extensive soundproofing of the whole house, on the sand far below. It has its own bathroom with an enormous bath and a very fancy shower; it’s got soft carpet instead of heated tile; it’s got to be at least twice the size of whatever run-down mess Bruce had been living in in Kolkata._ _

__“It’s too much,” Bruce says, guiltily._ _

__“Well, I don’t _have_ anything less,” Tony counters. It’s a lie – some of the other guest rooms are smaller, less extravagant, don’t have quite as good of a view or quite so many wardrobes, but this is the one he wants Bruce to have and he _will_ have it, if it’s the last thing Tony does._ _

__“It’s nothing at all, honestly,” Pepper says, snaking an arm around Tony’s waist and smiling at Bruce. The two of them watch Bruce take it all in._ _

__“Thank you,” Bruce says finally, turning to face Pepper and Tony, voice a little bit wobbly with thinly-veiled emotion._ _

__Then Pepper does something Bruce never expected. She wraps her arms around his waist, her cheek pressed against his shoulder, and squeezes him gently. Bruce hugs her back, gently and hesitantly, arms around her shoulders. Tony is smiling at them with just one side of his mouth – but Bruce knows Tony is just as happy as Pepper, though he’s not quite so willing to show it._ _

__“No problem, big guy,” Tony says. The biggest difference, Bruce thinks, between Tony’s mansion and Bruce’s shack in Kolkata, is that the shack in Kolkata didn’t have any friendly faces in it._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Phew! It took a long time to get this written and to get all the kinks out, but here it is! I consider this fic my contribution/gift (whichever sounds less conceited) to the Good Ship Dr. Pepperony. HUGE thanks to Anna, Bonnie, Aisu, and Heather for giving it a look-over and making a few excellent suggestions. Where would I be without my faithful betas? Next chapter as soon as I find time to finish it!


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